Previous births: Dīpaṃkara legend

Fragment of a relief representing the Dīpaṃkara legend. The bodhisattva as the ascetic Sumati pays homage to Dīpaṃkara – a buddha of the past – with flowers obtained from a woman, and by lying down and spreading his hair on the ground to make a passage over the mud for the Awakened One. Then, Sumati vows to become a buddha in the future and Dīpaṃkara predicts that same will happen in a future existence. The Buddha Dīpaṃkara stands in abhayamudrā, the left holding an edge of the saṃghāti. The drapery of the saṃghāti is rendered in dense rounded ridges falling in thick U-shaped folds. He has a round nimbus with a decorated band whose motif is undiscernible. His eyes are half closed, the nose is broad and the mouth thin; his ear lobes are exaggeratedly elongated. The hair is rendered with vertical rows of waves, and the uṣṇīṣa is separate. To his right Sumati is represented twice. Standing next to Dīpaṃkara, Sumati wears a tunic of exomis type and globular earrings. He has flowing hair falling on the shoulders and top knot. Sumati holds a kamaṇḍalu in his left, and a bunch of lotuses in his right. He is represented a second time on the upper part of the scene flying and kneeling with joined hands.